by Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library
To support Border Waste Wi$ e’s goal of reducing solid waste in the San Diego-Tijuana Border area, the project partners focused on three main activities:
- Business Assistance
- Training and Outreach
- Information Resources
Many of these activities were geared towards providing technical assistance directly to Border companies, particularly maquiladoras.
Border Waste Wi$ e provided onsite waste reduction and recycling assistance to the maquiladora sector and businesses in Otay Mesa, California. Services included:
- Waste reduction assessments
- Training for specific businesses
- Implementation assistance
We provided waste reduction assessments and other technical assistance to more than 25 large and medium-sized companies including Sony and Hasbro. SAIC’s waste reduction specialists and trained municipal and university staff and students conducted the assessments.
Border Waste Wi$ e trained municipal staff, university staff and students and others on waste reduction. The primary goal of this training program was to enhance the capabilities of local organizations to provide ongoing waste reduction assistance to Border industries. The training program was led by national and international training experts from SAIC and Eugene Tseng and Associates.
In March and April 1996, the Partners held a two-day training session on conducting a landfill composition study and a separate two-day session on business waste reduction and recycling.
The sessions, held at the Universidad Autonóma de Baja California (UABC), were attended by between 30 and 40 people. The training sessions used a comprehensive waste reduction training guide prepared by Border Waste Wi$ e. English and spanish versions were produced.
In September 1996, a third training session was held in Tijuana that focused on fine-tuning the waste reduction assessment techniques used by municipal and university staff and students in the business assistance program.
The Project Partners sponsored the Border Waste Wi$ e Conference held on December 5, 1996 in Tijuana where project results were discussed, additional training on business waste reduction were provided and the companies and other organizations and individuals participating in this project were recognized.
Border Waste Wi$ e developed several information tools to support waste reduction activities of Border industries, government agencies, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, and other technical assistance providers. These tools and resources can also be used to support non-Border related waste reduction activities. These tools include:
- Border Waste Wi$ e Online, this bilingual website
- Border Waste Wi$ e’s San Diego and Tijuana Solid Waste Recyclers Directories
- Success stories, assessment reports, fact sheets and brief industry waste reduction guides developed by Border Waste Wi$ e.
- Data on solid waste entering the Tijuana landfill that Border Waste Wi$ e partners, including municipal officials and students gathered during several days on-site at the landfill. This data focused the business assistance activities on key waste streams and helped lay the groundwork for characterizing the region’s solid waste stream.
Most of this information is available on Border Waste Wi$ e Online.
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